Lesson Plans

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Lesson Plans

The following lesson plan is the lesson that our group will teach to the class on the day we present our i-group project. The lesson plan is a combination of several activities listed on our "Activities" page. The lesson includes a write-like and both versions of the character circle activity. The lesson asks students to examine critical moments in the novel from the perspective of multiple characters, both adult and child. During the step-back part of the lesson, students will discuss the differences between the adult perspectives and the child perspectives in order to conceptualize the notion of childhood in the novel. It is important to consider the concept of childhood and a child's perspective in this novel since all events are told to readers from the point of view of a child.

LESSON PLAN- To Kill A Mockingbird Process Drama Activity

Planning for Teaching

Agenda for the Day
  • Motivating Activity: write-like
  • Character Commentary Activity
  • Tableau Activity
  • Closing: Step-back

Lesson Objectives and Standards Addressed in the Lesson
  • Students will participate in several process drama activities in order to analyze important moments in To Kill A Mockingbird.
  • 1.1.11.G
  • 1.6.11.A
  • 1.6.11.D
  • 1.6.11.E

Conceptual Focus
  • This lesson asks students to take on the perspectives of several characters in the novel, and in particular, the child characters. Working from those perspectives, students will use process drama to understand and analyze the character motivations and conditions that lead to important events in the novel. The drama activities ask students to interpret the important events and other characters’ actions from the point of view of the child characters, namely Scout and Jem. This lesson contributes to the overall unit goal of looking closely at the nature of childhood in the novel. It is important for students to explore childhood in the novel because the story is told in first-person by a narrator who is a child and whose perspective frames readers’ interpretations.

Instructional Materials for Lesson
  • Writing utensil
  • Paper
  • Copy of To Kill A Mockingbird
  • Pictures that represent important moments
    • Mr. Ewell’s knife
    • The blanket from the fire
    • The items from the knot-hole
    • Destroyed flowers
Lesson Opening

Motivating Activity
  • Students will move into groups.
  • Each group will be shown one of the pictures.
  • Students will do a write-like from the perspective of one of the characters from the novel explaining how the scene in the picture came about.
    • One student in each group will need to be Scout.
    • One will need to be Jem.
    • Others can choose their character.
During Lesson

Sequence
  • Students will stand in a circle around the picture.
  • Each student will use their write-like and make one comment, in character, about the scene in the picture.
  • As a group, students will decide on what scene immediately preceded the scene in the picture and develop a tableau of that preceding scene.
  • Other groups will view the tableau and uses which important moment is being represented.

Closing the Lesson

Closure/Step Back
  • As an entire class, students will discuss what they got out of the activities and/pr what they learned from them.
  • Students will also discuss the value, purpose, and other ways to use the activities.

Assignment or Lesson Extension
  • None

Monitoring and Assessing Learning
  • Instructors will monitor class participation.
  • Reading comprehension can be assessed by noting if students are able to correctly guess other groups’ scenes.
  • Analytical thinking can be assessed by the interpretations students present of the various scenes.

Differentiated Instruction
  • Small groups will potentially alleviate stage fright.
  • Some students benefit from writing before performing, so that they can get their thoughts down on paper, so all students will do so.
  • Remediation: A brief summary of the novel before beginning the activities may help some students recall the events that the drama is based on.
  • Enrichment: Students can be challenged to develop several tableaux that present other possible interpretations of their scene.

Sources